Jouhet () is a
commune in the
Vienne
Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.[department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...]
and
Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by t ...
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
of western
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
History
A 15th
chapel of rest at Jouhet has 16th century historical frescoes. On the left wall of the chapel is the legend of
The Three Dead Kings
''The Three Dead Kings'' ( la, De tribus regibus mortuis), is a 15th-century Middle English poem. It is found in the manuscript MS. Douce 302 in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, and its authorship is sometimes attributed to a Shropshire priest, Jo ...
. The chapel was declared of historic importance in 1908. The three kings legend dates from the end of the 13th century shows three kings or riders meeting three corpses and realising the inevitability of death. This theme is repeated three times in the frescoes of
Antigny church.
Within the commune is the village of
Rillé where the Polish underground liberation movement known as "Monika" (
Polska Organizacja Walki o Niepodległość) operated. Towards the end of the war in 1944 they were very active and
SOE SOE may refer to:
Organizations
* State-owned enterprise
* Special Operations Executive, a British World War II clandestine sabotage and resistance organisation
** Special Operations Executive in the Netherlands, or Englandspiel
* Society of Opera ...
agents landed here bringing money and supplies.
[L'opération, montée par la 6e Section de l'état major général polonais, est documentée sous le nom de code ''Operation Dewsbury'' dans les archives militaires polonaises conservées au Royaume-Uni, à la base de RAF de Northolt.]
See also
*
Communes of the Vienne department
References
Communes of Vienne
{{Vienne-geo-stub